Last in Parliament October 2015, as ConservativeMP for Oakville (Ontario)

Statements in the House

Mr. Speaker, my constituents in Oakville want low taxes and the freedom to make their own financial decisions, but the Liberals and the New Democrats would rather force a tax hike on every Canadian worker and small business through a higher mandatory payroll tax.

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal vision for Canada is marijuana stores in every community, making marijuana as easy for children and teens to get as beer and tobacco, like Vancouver, which has more illegal marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks coffee shops.

In April, 63 young people in Vancouver ended up in the emergency room of St. Paul's Hospital suffering from nausea, palpitations and diminished consciousness in one day from marijuana poisoning.

Colorado rolled out legalization with tough regulations, yet 45 children have been treated in poison control centres after eating marijuana sweets. Almost half the adults arrested test positive for marijuana. Marijuana is the number one reason for DUI charges. Marijuana-related hospitalizations increased by 82% and marijuana-related traffic deaths doubled in the first five years.

How many Canadian children and teens have to get their stomach pumped or die in motor vehicle accidents before the Liberals admit their drug vision would be a nightmare for Canada's youth and their parents?

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague for introducing Quanto's law. It is really a marvellous thing to do and I very much appreciate it.

In my riding of Oakville, when we knocked on doors during the election, on some streets there was a dog at almost every second household. We heard them barking as soon as we hit the door. We grow so attached to animals not only because of their intelligence, but because they also give us companionship. In addition to that, a key reason that so many people in my riding have dogs is because they feel safe at night. The dog helps to guard the house. If prowlers came around or someone tried to break into the house, they would be scared off by the dog.

These are noble beasts that live with us. They have become part of our families. This high level of training and service that police dogs and horses do is a wonderful thing to behold. It is like dogs with jobs. This higher level of protection is a marvellous thing, and I congratulate the member.

Does the member think that with this extra protection provided to police dogs and horses, they will be given additional duties? Will police forces be able to use them to do more, or will they keep carrying on the way they have been?

Mr. Speaker, auto companies are one of the many job creators that are starting to push back against the irresponsible ideas of the Liberals in Ontario and the Liberals on the other side of this house.

The mandatory expansion of the Canada pension plan would kill jobs and dramatically hike taxes on all hard-working Canadians. The leader of the Liberal Party is suggesting that income earners who earn just $60,000 a year should have to pay $1,000 extra a year instead of spending it on their priorities.

Job creators are pushing back. We reject this plan and Canadians will never accept it.

On this side of the House, we do not raise taxes on the middle class. We cut them.

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal leader wants to make smoking marijuana a normal, everyday activity for Canadians, making it easier for children and teens to buy and smoke.

More than a quarter of our children and teens age 11 to 15 already smoke marijuana, risking addiction, memory loss, apathy, psychosis, respiratory problems, diminished mental functions, and even death in motor vehicle accidents.

More than 5,000 children and teen marijuana users have ended up in emergency rooms in Ontario since 2010, yet the Liberals are promising to sell marijuana in stores, like cigarettes and alcohol, normalizing its use.

It is too bad the Liberal leader missed the ugly scene at St. Paul's Hospital emergency room after a marijuana street party in Vancouver, as 64 youth arrived with nausea, vomiting, heart palpitations, and decreased levels of consciousness.

Our marijuana laws exist primarily to protect our children and teens from the proven dangers of marijuana. Our Conservative government will not abandon our youth by normalizing this powerful narcotic.

Mr. Speaker, something has happened during this debate. I think what has happened is someone is calling down from the Liberal leader's office because we are starting to get this message. We have heard twice now from the other side that, given the chance and they legalize marijuana, one could not just go into a store and buy it. Therefore, my question would be, had I the opportunity, where would I buy it? Would someone have to show ID? That is a tough condition, having to show ID. We know that a huge number of our teens suffer from binge drinking and the regulatory regime for alcohol and cigarettes does not prevent teens from getting alcohol and cigarettes.

One of the members across was talking about how marijuana is used based on the patient's claim that it kills pain. No one can refute that per se, but there is no research that proves it does kill pain, certainly not better than the other 200 painkillers on the market. However, we do not give powerful narcotics to people who do not have serious pain. Why is that? It is because they are risky. They can damage organs. They can cause addiction, et cetera. Why would we want to put another powerful narcotic on the market and make it available young people to endanger their health?

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite was paraphrasing something that apparently came out of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. I want to ensure that the House has no misapprehension that the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police supports legalizing marijuana.

In fact, I will quote from a resolution it made at its August 2013 annual conference. It states:

We believe that decriminalization or legalization is not the direction we should be moving toward from a public safety perspective....

The illicit use of cannabis can have a negative impact on public safety and the health of young persons in particular.

Cannabis is a drug that impairs cognitive function, can cause delusional thoughts or hallucinations, and negatively impacts the ability to operate a motor vehicle or machinery.

There are other comments as well.

I wanted to ensure that the House does not think somehow the chiefs of police from across Canada want to make marijuana legal or decriminalize it.

Mr. Speaker, since 2010, 5,000 Ontario youth, 18 years old and under, have ended up in emergency rooms of hospitals desperate for care after smoking or ingesting marijuana. Some of them were treated, some were addicted and had been there before, and some were there due to automobile accidents. I think there is great value for the House in hearing from the member who I think was an RCMP officer for over 20 years.

I wonder if he could please tell the House what he witnessed, as a police officer on the front line on the streets, roads, and hospital emergency rooms, of the harms and risks of marijuana.

Mr. Speaker, the member has claimed that the marijuana issue has become a political football. That has never been the goal of the government. It is not a political football. The government's goal is to protect Canadian youth. To the extent that it could be considered a political football, that came when the Liberal leader went to a high school on Prince Edward Island where children as young as 14 were present and announced to great cheers that he wanted to legalize marijuana. If the marijuana issue is a political football, it is because of the Liberal leader's attitude.

The member has also said, “there is very little scientific evidence in this report”. I am sorry, I was at the same committee hearings she was, and we heard from Meldon Kahan, Women's College Hospital; Harold Kalant, University of Toronto; Michel Perron, chief executive officer of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, and their senior researcher. We heard from Andra Smith, associate professor, University of Ottawa, and three professors who came as individuals, professors of psychiatry from the University of Toronto, and others.

Here is what they told us. They told us that marijuana can cause psychosis, marijuana can cause neurological damage, marijuana damages the prefrontal cortex of children's brains. That is scientific evidence.

Mr. Speaker, the member wants to talk about reality and evidence, so why not look at the reality and evidence from Colorado, where marijuana was legalized and where its sale was normalized in January 2014.

Here is what has happened so far. First, the tax revenues Colorado expected have levelled off because given the choice, people would rather stay in a bar and meet their old drug dealer and get their dope 29.5% cheaper, with no tax, than travel to a government-run store. Therefore, that is not proving to be true. Forty-five children eight years old and under have ended up in hospitals getting spinal taps and having their stomachs pumped after eating gummy bears or brownies or whatever their parents left around the house with marijuana in it. There were 45 very seriously ill children. As well, there have been an least two deaths reported from psychotic reactions from people who consumed too much marijuana.

That is the experience so far. Were you aware of that, and are you not afraid the exact same things would happen in Canada?